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Historical 

Society 

OF 

Berks 

County. 



Constitution 

AND By-Laws. 



Constitution and By-Laws 



OF 



The Historical Society 



OF 



Berks County. 



Instituted July 9, 1869. 

Incorporated December 13, 1869. 

Reorganized March 8, 1898. 



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58201 



OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES, 
1898. 



President^ 
Albert G. Green. 

Vice-Presidents. 

Samuel L, Young, Hon. G. A, Endlich, 

Jesse G, Hawley, J. H. Sternbergh. 

Corresponding Secretary, 
Henry May Keim. 

Recording Secretary, 
George M. Jones. 

Treasurer, 
Fred. M. Yeager. 

Committee on Finance. 

George B. Eckert, Hon. Daniel Ermentrout, 

Benjamin F. Owen. 

Committee on Publication. 

Samuel C. Mayer, Thos. C. Zimmerman, 

Morton L. Montgomery. 

Committee on Library. 

Rev. James I. Good, D.D., Louis Richards, 

Frederick W. Nicolls. 



CONSTITUTION. 



Article I. — Name. 

The name of this Society shall be "The His- 
torical Society of Berks County," and it shall have 
by that name perpetual succession with power to 
have a common seal and the same to change at 
pleasure, to make contracts relative to the institu- 
tion, to sue and to be sued, and by its corporate 
name to be capable of purchasing, taking, holding, 
and conveying any estate, real or personal, for the 
use of the Society, and generallv to have all the 
rights and incidents of a corporation. 

Article II. — Members. 

The Society shall be composed of such persons 
as are now members thereof and such others as 
may hereafter become members under its Rules 
and Regulations. Women shall be fully eligible 
to membership. The object of the Societv shall 
be the elucidation of the history of Berks County 
in particular, and of history generally. 

Article III. — Laws. 

The Societv may establish Rules, Bv-Laws, and 
Ordinances for the good government and support 
of the affairs of the Societv, provided that the 



same shall not be repugnant to the Constitution 
and laws of the United States, to the Constitution 
and laws of this Commonwealth, or to this Charter. 

Article IV. — Officers. 

The officers of the Society shall be a President, 
four Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, 
a Recording Secretary, and a Treasurer. 

The Society may by By-Laws create a Council 
and such committees as it may judge advisable. 
It may also abolish any of the officers hereinbefore 
mentioned, and may create others in their room 
or in addition thereto, with such powers and duties 
as it may think proper to confer, and it may by 
the said By-Laws prescribe the mode and time of 
election of all of the said officers and committees, 
and determine their respective duties. 

Article V. — Income. 

The yearly income of the Society, other than 
from real estate, shall not exceed the sum of two 
thousand dollars. 



BY-LAWS. 



Article I. — Meetings. 

The Society shall hold stated meetings on the 
second Tuesday evening of every month, except 
the months of July and August. Special meetings 
may be called by the President or one of the Vice- 
Presidents, by giving at least three days' notice 
thereof in not less than two of the daily news- 
papers published in the city of Reading. Not less 
than five members shall constitute a quorum. 

Article II. — Elections. 

An election of officers shall be held at the 
stated meeting of the Society, in January each 
year. The candidates for all offices shall be nomi- 
nated at the stated meeting in December, and no 
new candidates shall be nominated at the stated 
meeting in January ensuing, except by unanimous 
consent. In case, however, of the death, inability, 
or refusal to serve of any of the candidates nomi- 
nated at the December meeting, others may be 
named in their stead, at the January meeting. 

Vacancies, which may occur in any of the 
offices, may be filled by an election to be held at 
the next stated meeting, after such vacancy shall 
have been announced to the Society. In case the 



8 



Society shall fail to complete any election at the 
time fixed for so doing, a new election to fill such 
vacancy may take place at the next stated meeting, 
after it shall have been announced to the Society, 
and nomination shall have been made of candidates 
to fill the same. In the meantime the officers, 
whose terms would have expired in case there had 
been no such default of election, shall hold over 
until their successors shall have been duly chosen. 

Article III. — President. 

It shall be the duty of the President, or in his 
absence of a Vice-President, to preside at the 
meetings of the Society, to preserve order, to 
regulate the debates, to state motions and ques- 
tions, and to announce the decisions thereon. If 
neither the President nor a Vice-President be 
present at a meeting, the Society may choose a 
member to preside at that meeting. 

Article IV. — Corresponding Secretary. 

The Corresponding Secretary shall have the 
charge of the correspondence of the Society. He 
shall attend the meetings of the Society and present 
such letters and communications as he may have 
received and written. The records and all official 
papers shall be kept in the Hall, and be at all 
times accessible to members of the Council. 



Article V. — Recording Secretary. 

The Recording Secretary shall keep full and 
correct minutes of the proceedings of the Society 
and shall have them transcribed in a book of 
record. He shall give due notice of any special 
meeting that may be called, and shall notify all 
members of their election. 

Article VI. — Treasurer. 

The Treasurer shall have charge of the moneys 
and other funds belonging to the Society. He 
shall collect the contributions of the Society and 
shall pay such claims against it as shall have been 
duly examined and ordered to be paid. He shall 
present at the stated meeting in January a state- 
ment of his receipts and expenditures during the 
preceding year, with a full report on the financial 
condition of the Society. Until otherwise pro- 
vided the Treasurer shall serve without compen- 
sation. 

Article VH. — Committees and Council. 

A Committee on Finance, a Committee on 
Publication, and a Committee on Library, each to 
consist of three members, shall be elected ; one 
member of each committee to be chosen at each 
annual election. The members of these com- 
mittees together with the other officers of the 
Society shall form a Council of the Society, which 



10 



shall meet at the Hall on the second Tuesday of 
every month, except the months of July and Au- 
gust, and of which five members shall form a 
quorum for the transaction of business. They 
shall meet at an earlier hour than that fixed for the 
meeting of the Society. The Council shall have 
power to make rules for its own government, and 
shall keep regular accounts of the proceedings at 
its meetings. 

Members of the Society shall have the right to 
attend the meetings of the Council, to propose 
any matter for consideration, and to speak but not 
to vote thereon. In order that the meetings of 
the Society may be free for the reading of papers 
and for discussions on historical and literary sub- 
jects, the executive business of the Society shall 
be placed under the care and management of the 
Council. They shall solicit and receive donations 
for the Society, recommend plans for promoting 
its objects, digest and prepare business requiring 
the action of the Society, authorize the disburse- 
ment and expenditure of unappropriated moneys 
in the Treasury, fix the payment of salaries, con- 
trol the fitting up of the Hall and Library, the 
ordinary purchasing of books and binding, and 
other matters proper and necessary to promote the 
interests of the Society. 

It shall be the duty of the Council to present 
to the Society at the stated meeting in January in 



II 



each year, nominations for the officers and mem- 
bers of the several Standing Committees, to be 
voted for at the ensuing annual election ; provided^ 
that said nominations shall not preclude nomina- 
tions being made by any member of the Society. 

The Council shall also have general supervision 
and care of the Library and collection, and shall 
have authority at all times to examine into the 
condition of the same, and into the state of the 
finances of the Society, to execute all such duties 
as may be specially committed to it by the vote of 
the Society, and generally to superintend and pro- 
tect its interests. 

The Council shall have power to elect a Li- 
brarian of the Society, to fix his term of office and 
the amount of his salary and to prescribe the 
details of his duties so far as the same shall not 
have been herein provided for. 

The Council shall have power to elect members 
of the Society ; but two negative votes shall 
prevent the election of any candidate. 

Any member of the Council shall have the right 
to call for the ayes and nays on any question 
before it, and to require the same to be entered on 
the minutes, and to bring such question by appeal 
before the Society ; in which case the list of ayes 
and nays, together with the notice of the appeal, 
shall form part of the record and be laid before 
the next meeting thereof. 



12 

Article VIII. — Members of Committees, 

Any member of either of the committees, with- 
out reasonable cause, failing to attend two con- 
secutive meetings, his seat may be declared vacant 
and the remaining members of the committee shall 
appoint a member in his stead, who shall act until 
the next annual election. 

Article IX. — Librarian. 

The Librarian shall have charge under the 
direction of the Library Committee of the books, 
manuscripts, and other property in the rooms of 
the Society, and shall arrange and preserve the 
same in proper and convenient order. He shall 
keep an arranged catalogue of the books and 
manuscripts, and where these have been presented, 
shall append the names of the donors. No books, 
manuscripts or other property under his charge 
shall be removed from the Hall, except by written 
order of the Committee of the Library, or of its 
Chairman, in favor only of such persons as may 
be engaged in the preparation of works of his- 
torical interest, or by vote of the Council for the 
benefit of the Society. At each stated meeting in 
January he shall present a report to the Society, 
embracing an account of the Library, and of its 
condition during the preceding year. 



13 

Article X. — Co?nmittee on Finance. 

The Committee on Finance shall have the gen- 
eral superintendence of the financial concerns of 
the Society. They shall have access to the books, 
accounts, and vouchers of the Treasurer. They 
shall consult with the Treasurer, and authorize 
and direct the investment of surplus funds. 

Article XI. — Committee on Publication. 

All works offered to the Society for publication 
shall be referred to the Committee on Publication, 
who shall report thereupon before further action 
by the Society. The said committee shall super- 
intend the printing and distribution of such pub- 
lications as the Society may order to be printed. 

Article XII. — Committee on Library. 

The Library Committee shall direct the Libra- 
rian in the general care and management of the 
Library, and in the disposition and management 
of the books, maps, documents, paintings, and 
collections of the Society, and shall control the 
disbursement of all appropriations and contribu- 
tions that may be made for their increase and 
maintenance. 

Article XIII. — Special Committees. 

All special committees shall be chosen on nom- 
inations made by members present, unless the 



Society shall otherwise direct. A majority of any 
committee shall be a quorum and shall elect Its 
own Chairman. Special committees shall report 
at the meeting next after that at which they were 
appointed, unless otherwise ordered by the Society. 
All reports shall be In writing and signed by the 
members agreeing thereto. 

Article XIV. — Election of Members. 

Candidates for membership shall be nominated 
in writing, In a book provided for such record, by 
any member of the Society. Elections of members 
shall be by ballot, at any stated meeting of the 
Council ; provided., that two negative votes shall 
prevent any election. 

Article XV. — Voters. 

Those members only shall be qualified voters 
at any election, whose dues are not in arrears. 

Article XVI. — Dues. 

The first contribution of each member shall be 
Two Dollars. The subsequent annual contribution 
of each member shall be One Dollar. The payment 
of Twenty-five Dollars at one time by a member 
shall constitute him a member for life, with an 
exemption from all future payments. Any mem- 
ber liable to an annual contribution who shall 
neglect or refuse to pay the same for the term of 



15 

one year, shall thereupon be stricken from the roll 
of members; but such person may be reinstated 
in membership by a vote of the Council, upon 
payment of his dues. 

Article XVII. — Honorary Members, 

Any person, not a citizen of Berks County, 
distinguished for literary, scientific, or historical 
attainments, may be elected an honorary member 
of the Society, by a unanimous vote of the Council. 

Article ^N\\\,— Deaths. 

On the Society being informed of the death of 
a member, the fact shall be entered on the rec- 
ords, and a member may be appointed by the 
Council to prepare an obituary notice of the 
deceased. The obituary notices of members shall 
be read to the Society, and they shall be bound 
together whenever they are sufficiently numerous 
to form a volume. 

Article XIX. — Special Funds. 

I. The Publication Fund, the Binding Fund, 
and the Building Fund shall respectively consist of 
such sums as shall be placed to the credit of the 
said funds, and of such other sums as may be in 
any manner added thereto. The Treasurer shall 
keep separate accounts of each of the said funds, 
in which shall be entered all receipts and pay- 



i6 



ments pertaining to them respectively. The 
amounts to the credit of the said funds shall from 
time to time be separately invested, in the corpor- 
ate name of the Society, on the loans of the United 
States, of the State of Pennsylvania, or in first 
mortgages on improved real estate, as the Society 
shall direct. 

None of the said investments shall be changed, 
unless by a vote of the Society, upon the report 
of the Council in favor thereof. 

2. The object of the Publication Fund shall be 
to provide for the printing and publication of such 
works of historical interest as the Society may 
choose to put forth. 

The object of the Binding Fund shall be to 
provide for the binding and preservation of books 
and documents belonging to the Society. 

The object of the Building Fund shall be to 
provide for the erection of a Hall for the Society, 
when a sum sufficient for the purpose shall have 
accrued or been obtained. 

3. The Society may, from time to time, appro- 
priate the interest and income of the Publication 
and Binding funds to their respective objects, but 
the principal of the said funds shall not be en- 
croached upon for any purpose whatever. The 
interest and income of the Building Fund shall be 
added to the principal thereof, and shall be in- 
vested in like manner with the principal, and for 



17 

the same object, until the Society shall deem it 
expedient to appropriate the said fund, with the 
accumulations thereof, to the purchase or erection 
of a hall. 

4. Any person, member or other, who shall 
pay to the Society the sum of Twenty -five 
Dollars for the use of the Publication Fund, shall 
be during life entitled to one copy of each book 
or other document published by the Society sub- 
sequent to the date of contribution. All sums 
thus paid and all sums received from time to time 
from the sale of the Society's publications, together 
with all contributions specifically made for the 
purpose, shall be added to the Publication Fund, 
and be treated as part of the principal thereof. 

5. The care and management of the said funds, 
and the application of the interest and income 
thereof, shall, subject to the general direction of 
the Society, be placed in the hands of the Com- 
mittee on Finance. 

Article XX. — Order of Business. 

The following shall be the order of business at 
the meetings of the Society : 

1. The Society shall be called to order by the 
Chairman. 

2. The minutes of the preceding meeting, and 
of any subsequent special meeting, shall be read, 
and shall be liable to further correction. 



3. New members and visitors from other Soci- 
eties shall be introduced. 

4. Historical and literary communications shall 
be in order. They may be printed, written, or 
verbal, original or selected. 

5. Announcements of the decease of members 
shall be made, and obituary notices or memoirs 
shall be read. 

6. Donations and other additions to the Library 
shall be announced. 

7. Donations and other additions to the Mu- 
seum shall be announced. 

8. Correspondence shall be read. 

9. Reports on Business shall be read. 

10. Deferred Business shall be in order. 

11. New Business shall be in order. 

12. The Society shall adjourn. 

Article XXI. — Amendments. 

No alteration shall be made in these By-Laws, 
unless the proposed amendments shall have been 
drawn up in writing, and read to the Society at 
one monthly stated meeting. Nor shall any such 
amendment be considered as adopted, unless sanc- 
tioned by the votes of two-thirds of the members 
present, at the meeting when the question shall be 
taken upon its adoption. Provided^ That the 
nomination for officers this year, one month pre- 
vious to an election, be dispensed with. 



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